by mechanism, cannot be improperly employed, when it is for the exercising of devout affections." SECTION XXIX. Of the Reformation, and of the Church of England Divines since the Reformation. "And if ye will not be reformed by me by these things, but will walk contrary unto me; then will I also walk contrary unto you, and will punish you yet seven times for your sins."-Lev. xxvi. 23, 24. "And in these our doings we condemn no other nations, nor prescribe any thing but to our own people only; for we think it convenient that every country should use such ceremonies as they think best to the setting forth of God's honor and glory, and to the reducing of the people to a most perfect and godly living, without error or superstition."-Pref. to Ch. of Eng. Prayer Book. "He left not himself without witness."-The Acts. xiv. 17. Q. The documents of which reign during the Reformation, claim a preference? A. Bishop White says, "The present speaker never looks back on these periods, without admiration of the wisdom displayed in the documents handed down from them. Those of the former period (Edward VI.) he considers as claiming a preference, in an enquiry into the sense of the eminent men who took the lead in the Reformation of the Church of England; and consequently into that of the institutions framed by them." Q. Were the English Reformers Calvinists ? A. Bishop White says, "The supposition of the Calvinism of the Reformers of the Church of England is very often taken for granted, without evidence of the fact." Q. What is the characteristic of the *Sem. Address, 1823, p. 14, most approved sermons of the Divines of the Church of England from the Reformation? A. Bishop White says, "In these sermons, as in the Articles, in the Prayers and Homilies of that Church itself, there is an happy union of Christian doctrine and Christian morality; equally unlike to some sermons in modern times, as well from the press as from the pulpit ; naked of the former property and destitute of the true spirit of the latter; and on the other hand, to some vapid and short-lived productions, boasting of an exclusive claim to gospel preaching; but rather calculated for the excitement of animal sensibility, than for a lasting influence over the consciences and the affections." *Con. Ser., 1811, p. 25. SECTION XXX. Of the Place of Departed Spirits. "And these all, having obtained a good report through faith, received not the promise: GoD having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect."-Hebrews xi. 39, 40. "And we beseech thee, that we, with all those who are departed in the true faith of thy holy Name, may have our perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and soul, in thy eternal and everlasting glory, through Jesus Christ our Lord."-First Prayer in "Burial of the Dead." Q. Mention a very common error on the state of the soul immediately after. death. A. Bishop White says, "It comes in the way in this place, to notice a very common error, which has even crept into the public confessions of some Churches; as if the beatific vision of holy persons, or their being in heaven, *Lectures, p. 35. took place on the dissolution of the body. This is not Scriptural. Doubtless such persons are in peace; in some state answering to the figurative terms of 'Paradise,' and 'Abraham's bosom,' with a measure of bliss, answering to what St. Paul must have implied, when he spoke of the spirits of just men made perfect.' Still, they have not yet. reached the state intimated by the same Apostle, where he speaks of being 'clothed upon with our house which is from heaven.' And the sentiment here expressed is sustained by our Church, as in many places, so especially when she prays, in the burial service, for perfect consummation and bliss, both in body and in soul.' But she nowhere speaks of passing immediately from this world to heaven." |